Pokemon JasperTurquoiseJadeCitrine
by Buggiedude2340
Summary: When twins Jasper and Turquoise set out on their journey through the Saedle region, they're in for quite the shock: the mysterious Team Infinity is upsetting the balance of nature, and two strange characters have shown up from either the past or the future. Can they match the precedent the pokedex holders before them have set? Can they save this new region?
1. The Twins Begin

**Part one:**

_Long ago there lived a girl who was graced with kindness beyond compare. She was well-loved by all around her, but one day vanished into thin air. So what would become of the past she could never return to? And what of the future she was living?_

Jasper barged into his twin sister's room, screaming insults and woes. "Ohmygod, ohmygod. Turquoise just _how_ are you still asleep?"

A drooling, and very sleepy Turquoise turned over, her face completely blissful. Her dirty blonde hair was in a tangled heap around her head, and the pillow lay on the floor, a good three feet away from the bed.

Collapsing in an exasperated clump, Jasper wailed at his twin. "Are you serious Turquoise? You're asleep? This is like the most important day of our little homey lives!"

No response.

He stood up quickly and leaned over his sister to whisper in her ear. "Fine then Turquoise," he sneered, "I'll go pick that bunufly you were so excited to choose as your partner."

Suddenly, she started up, banging her head against her brother's. She turned to him, tears forming in her brown eyes. "You're horrible, Jasper! I hate you so much!"

The boy raised two hands in surrender; he knew better than to argue with a half-awake sister. "Jeez, Turquoise. You know I was kidding. Besides, I'm gonna pick the tsuguppy, and you know it."

Turquoise _hmphed_ and turned away, puffing her cheeks, but allowed herself a suspicious glare at her brother. He looked so much like her, but with slightly redder hair and darker eyes. Oh, and shorter hair of course. He was already dressed for the adventure, wearing the dark grey hoodie mom had sewed for him, and the hat from Sinnoh that dad had sent while on vacation.

After shoving herself out of bed and her brother out of her room, Turquoise flung open her chaotic dresser drawers for her outfit, wishing her mom didn't always sew matching pieces for these occasions. A few seconds later, she was sliding down the banister wearing a white and purple striped tank top with a dark grey bolero. She grimaced at Jasper's purple Sinnoh hat and black shorts, wishing she was wearing something green, but mom wouldn't let them out the door if they weren't wearing her special adventure outfits.

By the time the twins were out the door and arguing about the way to Professor Cypress's lab, it was at least ten thirty, and Jasper was already grumpy.

"I can't believe you slept in today, Turquoise! We were picked by essay to be pokedex holders and here you are, sleeping 'till noon," he ranted.

"It's ten thirty," Turquoise countered, "I clearly didn't sleep until noon."

"Whatever!" Jasper shouted.

Both ten-year-olds shut up after that, letting go of the argument to take in the scenery on that country road. The two didn't usually go that far, even on their bicycles, typically staying in town and messing around with the other local kids. Large fields of waist high grass bordered the path, and there were probably lots of wild pokemon hiding within.

Upon reaching the professor's place, they found another girl loitering about, a relaxed expression on her face. She and the professor were sitting around a table on the lab's patio, enjoying lemonade.

"Ooh? Are they the new pokedex holders?" the black-haired girl asked excitedly. Jasper noticed a rather scary-looking luxray lazing about in the shade of the deck with an electrike cuddled next to it. They must have been professor Cypress's, and that black haired girl must've been the last dex holder.

"That they are, Millie," the professor said, smiling.

"I can't wait 'till they come challenge me," Millie declared, tossing her hair confidently. She was probably two or three years older than the twins, but man was she short! Of course, that bit about challenging probably meant she wasn't a dex holder.

The professor pushed herself from her chair to greet the twins. "You two must be Jasper and Turquoise, right?"

"That we are!" Turquoise shouted gleefully in reply. She had a habit of being a bit too cheerful, even if she wasn't a morning person.

Jasper nodded, looking at his weirdo sister.

The professor gestured to the briefcase sitting atop their table, as well as the two glasses of lemonade that hadn't already been touched. "Go ahead and choose a partner, then drink your lemonade while I explain the whole process, got it kiddoes?"

"Yes ma'am!" Turquoise squealed, mocking a salute. She skipped up the stairs to the deck and stole a seat and nearly toppled both glasses of lemonade. Jasper nodded again before calmly doing what his sister had, and watching the professor as she talked.

Professor Cypress was fairly young, probably only in her early twenties, and she had black hair just like Millie's. The only difference was that the professor kept her hair short and neat, while Millie's was held in two untamable ponytails. Blue-framed reading glasses were constantly removed and replaced as the professor read documents aloud and stopped to elaborate.

But since sure whatever the professor told Jasper and Turquoise was almost exactly what professors told other pokedex owners, there isn't much point in going into it. As soon as she was done, the professor smoothly opened the briefcase to reveal three shiny new pokeballs, each with a partner to share the adventure with.

Turquoise immediately took the grass-type pokemon and let him out of his pokeball, the two needing only a second of careful inspection of the other to accept the deal. That bunufly Turquoise had picked seemed to have the same go-lucky attitude as the girl, making them complete soul mates.

Jasper on the other hand, had slowly reached for the Tsuguppy's pokeball, hoping desperately he'd get the same sort of acceptance from his new partner. When he let the water-type out of her ball, she was asleep.

"She's still sleeping?" he asked, tentatively while both Turquoise and her bunufly giggled uncontrollably.

Leaning down to stroke the scales along the Tsuguppy's sides, Jasper murmured, "hey there little one." The softness of his voice must have worked, because the little fish was happily blinking awake.

"Wow, I wonder why that doesn't work on me," Turquoise blurted, interrupting the touching moment. Her pokemon was still chuckling to himself.

The professor stood up abruptly. "Well, I think that settles the matter of your partners, right you two? So how about we get you those pokedexs and send you off, okay?"

Both twins replied in their usual manners, Turquoise being overly excited, and Jasper being real and polite. It wasn't long before they were walking steadily along route 901, heading towards the next town without remembering to talk with mom. Of course, they were going to go back, especially after what would happen to the both of them next.

**Afterword: Alright, now that I'm done, I guess I should clear things up. Any pokemon that aren't already released are fake, made up by me because I needed to for a new (also fake) region. As an added note, I don't own pokemon, but I do own my characters and fake pokemon. I doubt anyone will want to, but if you would like to use the made-up pokemon (I couldn't care less about the characters), please reference them.**

**Also, Jasper is a kind of red, opaque rock. It's like the red equivalent of Turquoise.**

**Yay! Please send me CONSTRUCTIVE criticism and tell me my grammar mistakes! Ciao!**


	2. Citrine's Start

**Part two:**

_Someday a boy will arise with the patience to wait, to wait for a future that would never come. He would never grow tired of waiting. But of course, when he was stuck in the past, what future could he go to, aside from the one he might make for himself?_

A girl lay unconscious in the middle of route 901, making Turquoise scream, and making Jasper panic. What were they supposed to do with a strangely dressed girl who was asleep and in the company of an over-protective eevee? Jasper didn't know, and the likelihood of Turquoise offering sage advice was low indeed. The bunufly atop Turquoise's head of course, had its own idea. Care-free as possible, it jumped down from Turquoise's head and hovered for a moment before relaxing its tiny, dragonfly wings and sitting on its stiff tail. One yellow ear was folded down, while the other was perked, and the small rabbit pokemon cocked its head and smiled at the eevee.

Turquoise bent down to fawn over the thing. "Oh aren't you so adorable? You're such a good widdle eevee, protecting your trainer while she's out of it! I wish I could hug you! But since I shouldn't, I'll hug little Bo here."

"You named your bunufly Bo?" Jasper asked incredulously.

Suddenly serious, Turquoise glared menacingly at her brother. "Bo is male. I can't go giving him cute girly names, can I?"

Jasper raised his hands in surrender, knowing better than to argue with a stupid sister. "Sure. Whatever floats your boat."

Of course, they still had the matter of the passed-out female to deal with, and Jasper knew exactly who would end up carrying her, even if he was weaker than his sis.

"You know Jasper," Turquoise started, her voice sounding normal for a change. That meant she was actually going to talk seriously. "She looks like one of those people from museum paintings about the Faytown ruins."

Turquoise was right. The girl had long, chocolate brown hair, and wore a robe whose front overlapped with a V-neck. The sleeves were wide at the ends, and a single sandal was half-on one of her feet. Around her waist was a bundle of differently-colored cloth.

Leaning down, Jasper turned to his sister. "What do you say we take her to professor Cypress's house?" he suggested.

"Mmm, we could bring her home instead. I doubt the professor has time to deal with an unconscious girl who isn't dressed like part of society."

"Sure, but we should probably tell the professor too," urged Jasper.

"Yup," Turquoise said, standing up suddenly, "Let's go!"

With that, she began marching, with bunufly and eevee at her heels. Jasper groaned and heaved the mystery girl onto his back, straining his muscles to keep her there. Turquoise could probably do that better.

At home, mom began fussing over the sleeping girl, worrying herself unnecessarily. She even started on new clothes for the girl, knowing perfectly well that she shouldn't go out in that robe, and that Turquoise's style wouldn't work for her.

Meanwhile, the twins were on the phone with Professor Cypress, who had also welcomed an unexpected visitor. Hers was well-awake, but dressed equally strangely.

"I decided to send the boy off with the last pokedex, as well as the little conflerret you two didn't even bother to say hello to. Oh, and I think he's coming your way, so keep an eye out for a boy with black hair and grey eyes, got it?"

"Got it!" Turquoise cheerily echoed into the phone. The professor probably could have burst an eardrum from listening to her.

She spun around gaily and informed mom that there was a boy on his way too.

Jasper wished his sister would actually think about things. Of course, their mom didn't mind at all because she liked having people to sew for, and her own children were against the hobby.

Before the twins set out to find the strange boy Professor Cypress had reported, their mother stopped them at the door and handed each one a pokegear. "I'll probably forget when the two of you actually start travelling, so I thought I'd give these to you both now. Be good, and don't scare the boy when you find him, alright?"

Mocking a salute, Turquoise eagerly replied that she definitely wouldn't scare the boy. Jasper simply looked at his sister dubiously, thinking that yes, his sister would definitely scare him.

It wasn't long after the twins left, taking their pokemon and the curious eevee with them, that the brown-haired girl began to stir. Her eyes fluttered open to see a strange, low table across from her, and very colorful furniture scattered throughout the room. The walls were a pale blue, a color she'd never seen on walls before, and everything was lit up by strange flames in the ceiling.

A strange woman with light brown hair walked into the room, beige cloth in hand. "You're finally awake! Do you feel okay?"

Hesitantly, she nodded. "Um, where am I?" she asked timidly.

"This is Hartbranch town, but before we get too far into this, how about we introduce ourselves?"

Though she was burning with questions, like where exactly Hartbranch town was, the girl answered. "My name is Citrine," she said softly.

"That's very pretty, matches your golden eyes," the strange lady said, "I'm Dianna, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"So, um, Mrs. Dianna?" Citrine began, sitting up finally, "Where exactly is Hartbranch town? Am I very far from Faytown?"

Mrs. Dianna's brown eyes widened at the mention of Faytown. Surely this girl didn't have something to do with the ruins? And if she did, why would she only have an eevee to protect herself. "No, we're actually only ten miles from the ruins."

Alarmed at the word 'ruins', Citrine requested clarification.

"Yes, I'm surprised you don't know. There's an ancient village not far from here called Faytown, and the pokemon there are incredibly strong, so I don't recommend going there with only a little eevee."

"Ancient?" the girl repeated, her voice worried, "I was just there this morning and there were lots of people." Of course, Citrine was beginning to doubt herself. The lady she was talking to was dressed quite oddly, wearing a shirt that didn't appear to need any fastenings, and even breeches! Breeches were only worn by men in Faytown. Everything inside was lit up, but nothing was burning, and the colors of the furniture were so vibrant, the people must have been rich.

"I'm afraid Faytown was abandoned thousands of years ago," Mrs. Dianna corrected, shaking her head sadly. She had her suspicions that this girl had just gone through something horrifying.

"Thousands," Citrine whispered to herself, shivering. Abruptly, she broke into sobs. "Oh, my poor eve! What's happened to her? To my family? Why am I the only one left?"

Eager to cheer the girl up, Mrs. Dianna touched her shoulder. "If you're worried about your eevee, it's with my children. They're out searching for another person like you that we heard about."

The girl paused for a moment before sniffing and wiping away her tears. "Thank you so much Mrs. Dianna! Is there anything I can do to repay you?"

Chuckling, the older woman replied that she wasn't really in need of favors, but would ask some other day. "In the meantime, you probably shouldn't go out in that," she said, pointing at Citrine's robes.

Looking down at herself, then at Mrs. Dianna's outfit, she quickly agreed that it was best to not attract attention, and changed into knee-length beige shorts that gathered under her knees and a strange sleeveless brown shirt with orange trim. She felt funny, wearing breeches, but it didn't matter.

"I don't know how I can ever make this up to you, Mrs. Dianna," she said brightly as the mom ushered her out the door to find the twins.

"Remember, Jasper has a purple hat, and they'll be with your eevee," Mrs. Dianna called as Citrine raced down the street, her long brown hair trailing behind her.

**Afterword: Hmm... Still review please! I still have no ownership of pokemon... And school will be starting tomorrow, so uploading will be kind of slow.**

**Citrine is a yellow gemstone, just so y'all know. It's a colored kind of quartz, but I wanted to follow in Gen I's footsteps, so I picked yellow instead of calling her Quartz.**

**Ciao for now!**


	3. Jade's First Day

**Part 3:**

_Eons ago, five pokemon were born. The first four represented the virtues: Patience, Kindness, Courage, and Diligence, while the last was jealous and scheming. It wanted desperately to be as loved as its brethren, to be full of good works, but no matter what it did, no one loved it._

By the time Citrine caught up with the twins, they had already found the boy Cypress had mentioned and Turquoise was busy bragging about how wonderful Bo was. The black-haired boy, nodded, his face showing strain, but the light-haired girl paid no mind.

Jasper on the other hand, noticed when Citrine skirted their group. "Oh, you're awake," he said, tugging on the still-talking Turquoise's jacket.

"What's up?" she asked, before spotting the mystery girl they'd picked up, "Oh hey, I didn't see you there. You're eevee's with us. Oh, and I'm Turquoise, and my bro's name is Jasper, and this guy here"- she pointed at the black-haired boy - "is Jade."

Bowing slightly, Citrine introduced herself again. "It's a pleasure to meet you all," she said, trying to sound louder, but still sounding timid.

The group separated slightly to allow Citrine into the middle, right next to the attention-seeking Turquoise. Walking back to the house took only ten minutes, a small allotment compared to Citrine's search for the twins. As they walked, Jade noticed everything about the scenery. The sun was low, but not yet low enough for sunset, and houses were few and far between, surrounded by fields that were in turn bordered by thick forest. Pastel wild flowers bloomed everywhere, and the more saturated hues of garden blooms dotted the houses from flowerbeds and window boxes. Each house looked unique, and very different from its faraway neighbors. There was even a purple house whose walkway was bordered by humongous lavender bushes and daffodils.

Turquoise laughed as they passed that particular house, and the more stoic Jasper also chuckled.

"We call that the Rainbow house," she said, "'cause I swear, they repaint the house every year and same with the garden. Except, obviously they don't paint the garden, they just redo everything and kill last year's annuals."

Citrine listened intently to every word that came from Turquoise's mouth, but she listened to all people that seriously. And Jade only half paid attention, but was better than the completely tuned-out Jasper.

When the quartet reached the twins' house, their mother greeted them warmly, and the smell of spicy curry wafted slowly out the door, making Turquoise drool. Citrine widened her eyes when she smelled the spice, remembering that only the rich ever ate such delicacies. But she chided herself for thinking that because obviously she wasn't in the right time anymore.

Jade on the other hand silently embraced the smell for at his home, bland pasta and hamburgers were the most savory foods served. He reserved himself though, trying to patiently take in the house. But before he was allowed to sit and eat, the twins' mother insisted that he change out of the 'ridiculously strange' uniform he wore, and don a new set.

He exited the bathroom wearing a black jacket with an orange collar and golden cuff buttons on the sleeves. He wore black pants and black shoes, but didn't feel too formal.

Since Turquoise and Jasper giggled when he walked in wearing the clothes, Jade's first thought was that he had been too impatient putting on the clothes and therefore had done something wrong. But that was not the case, for they were only laughing at how both Jade and Citrine wore earthy tones with orange trim.

Citrine pouted but didn't say anything, but Jade decided to poke fun at them as well. "Well you two match too," he teased, "You're both in purple and grey."

The twins shut up after that, and everyone dug into the curry set before them, eager to try it or stuff themselves with it. Mrs. Dianna watched them thoughtfully, remembering her own days as a kid when she too set out on a journey with pokemon.

The next morning, Turquoise absolutely insisted upon a battle before leaving for the next town. "Boys versus girls, got it?" she announced loudly.

Of course, Jasper had to explain what exactly a pokemon battle was to the very shocked Citrine who didn't understand at all the point of the activity. Jade seemed to get it, though he seemed slightly surprised when it actually began.

Jasper's tsuguppy stole the first hit, landing a tackle on Citrine's poor disoriented eevee. But Turquoise quickly ordered bunufly to pound tsuguppy to dust.

In order to defend his teammate, Jade's flerret (A/N: I changed the name because this is shorter) mustered an ember, but was blinded by some quick thinking on Citrine's side. Goodness that eevee knew how to use a sandkick. Back and forth, the teams whittled down their opponent's stats while raising their own, but dealt minimal damage, to which Citrine was overly glad.

Eevee was knocked out first by an out-of-control vinewhip, but luckily the same move took out Jasper's partner simultaneously. But now, Turquoise was at a disadvantage: she was fighting fire-type flerret with her grass-type partner, and no eevee to lower the opponent's accuracy.

In the end, the match closed closely, with flerret firing a random barrage of ember and miraculously hitting bunufly.

Turquoise returned bunufly to its pokeball and pointed determinedly at Jade. "Just you wait!" she cried, not paying attention to the aghast look on Citrine's face, "We'll beat you next time!" And then she ran off, taunting her brother about reaching the next city before he did.

Citrine was still a bit upset over the pokeball idea. "Why did she stuff her friend inside of a strange ball?" she asked, tears forming in her eyes. "I thought Turquoise was fairly nice."

Both boys dropped their jaws. Clearly this girl from the past had a lot to learn before she was ready to traverse the Saedel region without help from more human companions.

So of course, out of the goodness of his diligent heart, Jasper welcomed Citrine to travel with him until she had adjusted. Jade had already left, following Turquoise along route 802 towards Tawnyfield City, the sprawling metropolis named for the cast plains it was built on.

Jasper and Citrine set out along the same path, steadily plodding along while Jasper talked to his mother over the pokegear, telling her about the battle and how Jade and Turquoise had already headed off.

**Afterword: Ugh, this one is a little funky. I'm afraid I can't replicate the excitement that comes from actually watching anime battles or reading the graphic novels. Fights are not my specialty.**

**Well, thanks for reading! I don't own pokemon, and I think I'll stop putting in the disclaimer after this.**

**Ciao!**


	4. Evolving Factors

**Part 4:**

_ Thousands of years ago, a man was born. In him he held fierce desire, a thirst for knowledge, and an insatiable appetite for wisdom. But the truly wise know their limits. The man befriended an ancient monster while his heart was still pure, but old age caught him, and the man sought after only one piece of knowledge._

"Absorb!" commanded Turquoise as she battled against Mundy, the Tawnyfield Gym leader. She hadn't seen either her brother or the other two since leaving them behind back home, and already she was regretting not sticking with them. After all, training with her super-diligent brother would've helped a ton.

The first pokemon Turquoise sent out had been Biz, her silicat, but Mundy's meermal knocked out the electric tiger cub with one strike. Turquoise had at least hoped to weaken the meermal with her first pokemon, but found herself fighting a losing battle.

After twenty minutes of exhausting vinewhips and rejuvenating absorbs, Turquoise was itching to either lose, or pull a hat trick. Of course, there was also the fact that Mundy still had another pokemon up her sleeve.

"Return!" Mundy called. Meermal, smirked and raced across the battlefield on all four, striking the finishing blow on Bo without batting an eye. "Remember Turquoise, return is a move that gets stronger the better friends you are with your pokemon. And since I'm very close with meermal, it's quite the attack.

The grey-haired lady recalled her pokemon and walked to the disheartened Turquoise to pat her head. "Cheer up, dear. You can always challenge me again. I recommend going to route 807. There are some great fighting-types there."

Lifting her head, Turquoise brightened. "Really? Gee thanks, Mundy." She raced out the door, ready to find a pokemon center. "I'll be back soon, and next time I'll win!"

Mundy sighed and watched the hyperactive girl sprint to the center. Shaking her head, the gym leader thought of a time when she'd been so hopeful and optimistic. Of course, that had been years ago.

Meanwhile, Jasper and Citrine were just entering Tawnyfield City. Citrine was absolutely dumbfounded upon seeing the skyscrapers and buildings of the metropolitan. And she was right to be impressed. Everywhere there were sleek, metal buildings and bright colors, and when night came, the whole city was lit up by neon signs, LEDs, and glass-walled office buildings. The only thing Citrine didn't find amazing was that she couldn't see the stars through all the lights that brightened the night.

While wandering the local night market, Jasper and Citrine ran across an extremely disappointed Turquoise. Once they settled down with bowls of beef noodle soup, Turquoise hogged the attention and told of her 'narrow' defeat and woes.

"And so Mundy suggested that I try going to route 807 to catch a fighting pokemon that's good against her normal-types, but I can't get through because of the stupid trees blocking the way!"

Jasper listened apathetically, while Citrine kindly paid her usual attention. She now understood what it meant to 'catch' a pokemon, and had even placed Eve inside a pokeball. But since the option was out there, she didn't keep the eevee inside, instead letting the little pokemon romp around and sniff everything in sight.

"So Jasper," Turquoise said, suddenly changing the subject, "Did you catch any pokemon on route 802?"

Jasper stopped slurping noodles, shook his head, and immediately returned to chowing-down.

Coyly, the light-haired girl looked at Citrine. "How about you, Citrine?"

Citrine shook her head. She couldn't bear the idea of fighting a pokemon to catch it, and had only battled the wild pokemon when Jasper got his head in too far. He worked exceptionally hard to train his tsuguppy, but didn't have the same diligence to know when to stop. Neither did the fish pokemon, of course.

"I can't believe you two," Turquoise sighed, "All the way along route 802 and neither one of you has gotten another teammate?"

Laughing nervously, Citrine nodded. Eve was on the ground, swerving between Citrine's legs and generally not eating the food she'd been given.

"I named tsuguppy. From now on, he's Tsunami," Jasper said abruptly. Looking at his empty bowl, Citrine guessed that Jasper never spoke while eating.

An overjoyed Turquoise jumped from her seat to hug her brother, as well as the free-roaming Tsunami on the floor. By the looks of it, Tsunami wasn't all that happy about the hugging, and neither was Jasper.

Suddenly, a loud clatter arose from the kitchen, and a man screamed for help. The three beginning trainers rushed through the doors marked 'staff only', to find the cook, still wearing his white hat, pinned to the floor by a horde of nymf.

Citrine thought there was something slightly off about the nymf, but decided not to say anything.

Turquoise, always the woman of action, called out Bo and Biz to ward off the swarm of bug pokemon. She urged her reluctant brother to fend them off as well while ordering her silicat to use spark. Her bunufly followed with multiple vinewhips, trying to whack the nymfs off of the poor, floor-ridden cook.

Citrine meanwhile wished she had one of those funny contraptions Jasper had shown her, the one that showed data on different pokemon. After all, something was definitely out-of-sorts here.

The kitchen ended up a mess while Citrine timidly tried to catch the twins' attentions while they battled the still-on-coming nymfs.

Finally, the dark-haired girl grew tired of waiting and shouted in a squeaky, girly voice, "Turquoise! Jasper! Check your pokedexs and stop fighting!"

The room grew silent at the mention of the word 'pokedex'. Everyone knew the fate that befell pokdedex owners, but none mentioned it. After a deep breath, Jasper paused his commands and checked for nymf.

Apparently, nymf were bug pokemon that evolved during late spring after eating a certain amount of the spice, ratleaf. The plains were once abundant with the herb, but had since grown to include more farmlands, and less wild plains.

While his sister was busy shouting war-cries and orders, Jasper creapt to a nearby worker to ask if the plant was used here in the cooking.

"Oh yes," the worker replied, "most of the restaurants around here use that spice."

After a look out the window at the rest of the street, Jasper found that other nearby shops were also under-fire from the raging nymf. He told Turquoise, who looked at him in disbelief, but frowned after a second to figure out how to stop them.

"Maybe I should ask Mundy," she said, leaving Jasper and Citrine to handle the mess alone. Of course, Citrine had other ideas that included finding a large source of the spice. She'd peered over Jasper's shoulder when he read the pokedex and already was trying to run on towards route 803, the fields where ratleaf was supposed to grow abundantly. She herself had once fed the nymf while their shells were transparent and watched them evolve into the new form of mayntis, named for the month in which it evolved.

She escaped the brightly-lit city to wander the fields that were already lit by volbeat and illumise, searching high and low for ratleaf.

Strange though, that Citrine came out empty-handed. Thousands of years ago, she'd walked the same field, and ratleaf was everywhere in sight. It would have been impossible to swing a glameow without hitting a stalk of ratleaf. And yet, every last leaf was gone, all except the spice in the restaurants.

Perhaps there was a pokemon nearby that could sniff out ratleaf somewhere else. With the night illuminated by flashing firefly pokemon, Citrine searched for a pokemon she'd met here before coming to this new time: a scentaur.

By the time she found one, Citrine was sure Turquoise had already found the Mundy person she was looking for and the nymf had been defeated, but that didn't change the fact that the nymf needed their ratleaf. Citrine called to the scentaur, which looked like a dog-snouted horse with paws and a wagging tail. This one was a red-brown color with black socks and a black tail, with a small white splotch on the forehead.

"Scentaur!" she said, letting Eve handle the actually communication and nerve-calming. Before long, the scentaur was fully briefed, and the search for ratleaf had begun.

**Afterword: This one is really bad... But at least something suspicious happened! Yay!**

**Anyways, thanks again for reading!**

**Ciao!**


	5. Ratleaf Thieves

**Part 5:**

_ There still lives a man who seeks immortality. When he gained a procedure for stealing life from the stores of others, his heart became tainted, and the pokemon he befriended turned away, feeling guilt over telling a person its first secret. But the man formulated a plan to attract that mystery monster, and still he waits to force the pokemon to give up its secrets._

Turquoise was completely out of breath by the time she reached Mundy's gym. Panting hard, she knocked on the door, frantically trying to attract the old lady's attention.

When at last, Mundy arrived at the door, Turquoise spluttered about the emergency hurriedly, nearly biting her tongue as she babbled.

"I'm sorry," Mundy said, putting a hand to her ear, "I can't really understand you when you talk like that."

Abashed, Turquoise tried again to explain the situation, stuttering to keep herself from talking too fast. "A ton of nymf are attack restaurants around town and we have to get rid of them before they destroy the places and we think they're all after some spice but we still need help calming them down and so I came to get you."

"That was a run-on sentence," Mundy said, a disapproving look on her face, "But I suppose the predicament calls for more action than correcting a child's grammar." The lady hurried up the stairs by the landing to fetch a coat before joining Turquoise on the way to downtown.

Meanwhile, Citrine and the scentaur were having slight troubles locating the end of the spicy trail they'd followed. Eve hadn't a care in the world, and was still in play-mode from their long walk, but Citrine and the scentaur were worried sick.

"Are you sure the scent ends here?" Citrine asked to clarify.

The scentaur nodded his mutt head, and whinnied some sort of affirmation.

This was all very confusing for Citrine, for to her knowledge, it was impossible for a smell to simply vanish. Even after three weeks, a scentaur could find the root of a smell with total ease. But then she remembered all the things Jasper had mentioned about machines and chemicals. It was really possible in this age to completely erase smells and magically transport pokemon. Of course, that thought led her to Eve, who'd been especially quiet the last few minutes.

"Eve?" she called, worried for the eevee's safety, "Where are you?"

The little pokemon stuck her head out from the ground right in front of Citrine, smiling. She squealed excitedly and dug back down. In no time at all, the eevee had popped up elsewhere, but with a large bump atop her head. What in the world was underground that Eve had bumped into?

"Eve! What did you bump into?"

The eevee shrugged and kept smiling.

"Do you think you could show me?" Citrine asked. She was worried there might be something dangerous underground, or that they were impeding on a lunamole's territory.

Eve nodded vigorously and proceeded to dig about until squealing loudly, "Vee!" that she had found the object of her collision.

Both Citrine and the scentaur peered down the small hole to see a silvery reflection. Metal! Why was there so much metal down there?

"Do you smell any people scents that disappear too?" she requested of the scentaur, still looking intently at the silver spot beneath the ground.

After a few sniffs in the air, the searching horse pokemon led Citrine to an outcropping of rocks, beneath one of which was a trap door of the same silvery material. After exchanging a hesitant glance with the scentaur she lifted the hatch and climbed in, the scentaur following silently after, and Eve close behind, knowing to be silent despite her playful disposition.

When Citrine reached the bottom, she came face-to-face with a glass wall. Behind that was a mountain of ratleaf stalk that filled the tank completely. Citrine gulped, wondering how exactly she would get all of the ratleaf spice back to Tawnyfield City. She didn't have a way to call the others like Turquoise and Jasper had, but there was no way she could transport it all herself.

A careful inspection of the room revealed no obvious ways of bringing the spice up to the surface, but there was a panel of buttons on the wall near the glass. Remembering that this time allowed control of some things by button-pressing, Citrine walked over to examine the panel.

There were four buttons, not one was labeled. A lever with a blue handle hung off of the right side, and the back was the same color as everything else in the room: shiny silver.

Nervously, Citrine pressed random buttons until she heard a loud noise, and the spice behind the glass began to float upwards. The dark-haired girl breathed a sigh of relief, glad that she hadn't ended up making everything worse. She and the two pokemon raced up the stairs to catch the sight of mounds and tons of ratleaf stalks tumbling over each other and sprawling onto the grass, attracting all sorts of pokemon, and most importantly, the nymf.

Jasper on the other hand, was not faring too well. Tsunami was tired, and word-out, and Jasper too, needed some down time. Of course, the leader nymf that he had challenged was equally exhausted, and Jasper wanted to make use of that. He fumbled around in his backpack while shouting commands, searching blindly for something to distract the foe or heal his pokemon.

But all he could find was five empty pokeballs. Well, those would have to do. Jasper grabbed one and hurled it at the attacking nymf, finding it difficult to aim while commanding his partner at the same time. He missed by a mile and gritted his teeth to try again.

This time, he did hit the nymf, but after a few bounces, the leader nymf broke free, shattering the pokeball. By this point, the other nymf were getting restless, judging Jasper's attempts to catch their leader as foul play.

Tsunami attacked again with a sloppy bubble attack, but managed to graze the stunned bug-type pokemon. Still dizzy and weak from breaking out of the pokeball, the leader nymf collapsed, completely out cold. Jasper figured that now that its underlings had seen the defeat, he could catch the nymf for himself and finish what he'd started at his desperate moment.

Jasper threw the third pokeball, and caught the nymf without any sort of struggle. Tsunami, tired but happy, beamed at him, excited to be a senior member of the team.

Of course, once Jasper looked around at his shattered surroundings, he knew his efforts had been almost entirely for naught.

**Afterword: Hm... I feel that this is getting worse. Oh well. Please rate & review! I want to see constructive criticism!**

**Ciao!**


	6. Team Infinity

**Part 6:**

_ Ten years ago, a boy with undeniable diligence was born. His work was valued, and his advice, sought after by his peers. And with his hard work, he gained the trust of important adults. But now, though he is unaware, his future is in jeopardy, along the futures of everyone around him._

When Mundy and Turquoise reached downtown, the nymf were already beginning to calm down and leave. And it wasn't just the one swarm that had attacked the beef noodle soup house, all the nymf seemed eager to get elsewhere. Turquoise spotted her brother dusting himself off in the rubble while nymf bowed to him and his tsuguppy. Obviously she'd missed the action.

"Hey Jasper!" she hollered, waving dramatically, "What happened?"

Her brother seemed mildly surprised to see her, but picked his way through the well-reduced shop to greet her. "I beat their swarm leader," he said coolly.

"I gathered that," the elderly gym leader said with equal calm, "But all the other nymf are leaving as well, not just this swarm."

"Really?" Jasper asked, sounding very surprised.

"Yes," Mundy assured him, "which means they've located a new source of ratleaf. I assume you captured the swarm leader, so I suggest you find the ratleaf source as well and evolve the thing. There's no point leaving it to wait another year."

Though he and Tsunami desperately wanted sleep, evolving his new team member seemed like a rare occasion, so Jasper followed the swarms, with his sister trailing behind while the gym leader was left to clean up their mess. Turquoise wanted to see the nymf evolving all at once, but was slightly annoyed with herself for not bringing a camera.

It took a good hour of walking to reach the ratleaf, and when the twins did finally chance upon it, they were star-struck by how gigantic the piles were, and even more shocked to see Citrine touch a dog-horse-looking pokemon with a pokeball nearby.

After all was said and done, and the scentaur, now named Zen, was out supervising the less mature Eve, Bo and Biz while they played, Turquoise felt the urge to demand Citrine tell exactly what happened.

"How did you get all this?" she insisted, "And where? And what? And how'd you move it all?"

Scratching her head, Citrine looked at the outcrop of rocks where the trapdoor was hidden. "Um, someone stuck it all underground in a funny room with an up and down maneuver thingy." She turned to see confused faces on the twins. "I can show you both, if you like."

Without any sort of hesitation, Turquoise immediately requested (albeit not very politely) to see the underground storeroom.

So Citrine led the twins down the hatch, and showed them the strange, silvery room where the stalks had been kept. Turquoise was busy looking at the symbol on one of the buttons. Citrine hadn't really noticed it when she came down, but now that it was there, she wanted to know what it was.

"I think it's some kind of logo," Turquoise proposed.

"I agree," her brother said, sounding somewhat aloof.

"What is a logo?" Citrine asked, smiling sheepishly.

Both twins groaned, remembering again that Citrine wasn't exactly in the moment, and never had been. But it didn't matter. While Jasper impatiently explained what a logo was, Turquoise memorized the symbol. It was a black infinity sign with yellow lettering within the never-ending black line that read: "Team Infinity: living beyond tomorrow".

"Huh," she muttered, "Team Infinity."

When the twins were satisfied with the strange room, they returned to the surface to watch Jasper's new teammate evolve. As soon as the nymf ate its share of ratleaf spice, the bright light of evolution overcame its drab brown chrysalis, and the new form of a mantis took its place. Jasper quietly announced that his new saintmanti would go by Cardinal from then on.

Of course, while the twins and Citrine were dawdling about route 803, Jade was traveling swiftly along route 804. He'd avoided challenging the gym and instead taught his newly evolved flarezle dig to avoid the rocks he would otherwise need to smash.

Having memorized 'historic' geography from this time, Jade expected the Fairy Cave entrance to come along anytime soon. He turned north when the road finally forked, and trekked along the rocky beach to find the opening to Fairy Cave. Supposedly, that was the perfect place to train pokemon, and though Jade was normally patient, he knew only three months remained before his old boss would finish the plan. That left three months to train, three months to try and stop the man from ever gaining his wish.

"The guy should have just wished on Jirachi ten years ago," Jade muttered to himself as he meandered, flarezle trotting happily ahead, but avoiding the surf. After evolution, the weasel-like pokemon had grown sleeker, and more agile, and tiny flames sprouted from either side of his back whenever he was awake. His tail was ringed with yellow and crimson, and small fires occasionally sparked when the tail whacked something.

Not too long after the turn, the beach ended at the dark entrance to Fairy Cave. The only footprints in the sand were those of Jade and his flarezle, making the location seem lonely and remote, if not a touch dangerous. The waves crashed loudly against the boulders near the cave entrance, spraying water everywhere. An opaque mist covered the top of the cave, revealing neither cliffs nor rocks to stand upon. Even Jade had to quiver at the sight of such an eerie place.

But nonetheless, he entered, swearing to be more patient with his pokemon if he couldn't make it through.

Barely seven minutes later, the black-haired boy ran from the cave, fear in his eyes, and his beloved flarezle out cold. Whatever had been in there, it hadn't been friendly, and Jade swore never to return to the ominous Fairy Cave.

Panting heavily, he arrived in Mossbeach Town, where the quaint villagers paid him no mind, and there wasn't a pokemon center to be found.

**Afterword: (Cues dramatic cliff-hanger music) I wonder what's in the cave! Thanks for reading! Please rate and review and help me get better! Yay thanks. Also, I feel kind of stupid for naming a praying bug-pokemon after a church position.**

**Ciao!**


	7. Battling Leaders

**Part 7:**

_ The man, having lost his only friend because of his own greed, wandered the world, stealing the life force of anyone who crossed him. He one day chanced upon the village of Faytown, a place full of kindness and warmth that disgusted the greedy man. When a young girl offered him her own kindness, he swore to destroy her after she set out on her journey later that day. But when he went to follow her path, the girl vanished into thin air, leaving no trace._

"Go Turquoise!" Citrine cheered from the bleachers, sounding loud for possibly the first time in her life. The light-haired girl was starting her double battle against the Highsnow Gym Leader, and she was psyched even more than last time, especially since Jasper had taken time to help her train. Of course, the boy had already left for Mossbeach, but that just meant the Turquoise could teach Citrine all about being female in the twenty-first century.

Leader Isis was a tall, lean fighting machine with well-tanned skin and black hair. She wore a thick, fur-lined parka with the coolest zangoose claw-tip buttons. (A/N: Maybe zangoose get their claws trimmed everyone once in a while?) Two pokeballs rested in her right hand, and the left hand was on her hip. "Are you ready, Turquoise?" she asked, using that announcer voice she put to use during the Winter Pokemon World Cup. If she'd been asking a crowd, they'd have gone completely nuts.

"You betcha!" Turquoise replied with equal vigor. She'd trained super hard against the wild ice-types around the ski lodge in order to figure out a way to beat them despite her disadvantage.

Isis's two pokeballs were tossed into the air, releasing a snowrunt and a blizzboar onto the skating rink. In answer, Turquoise called on Bo and Biz to steal the show. To Bo, she ordered him to stay aloft, careful not to touch the ice with that thick vine tail. Biz however, had mastered a new technique for attacking through ice, and immediately, her claws began radiating a soft, unnoticeable electric current through the ice.

"Bo, use razor leaf!" Turquoise ordered, pointing ahead to emphasize herself. Being dramatic was always her strong point. The trainer herself glided around the rink so she could observe from a different perspective. Leader Isis was also on ice skates, and the two circled round and round as they called out attacks and moves.

"What's wrong, Turquoise?" Isis yelled over the commotion, "Something wrong with your silicat?"

"Nope, but there's more to her than sliding on ice!"

Citrine cringed as Turquoise almost mentioned the strategy, but sighed in relief when the girl didn't go past hinting. It appeared that despite Turquoise's talkative personality, she could still keep a secret.

" Double icejut!" commanded Isis loudly. Both pokemon jumped, showing mild confusion as they did, but dug their feet (or hooves in blizzboard's case) into the rink, forcing ice to push Biz over. As soon as the yellow and black tiger cub hit the ice, her claws began sizzling with electricity, melting any ice she touched, but with the constant vinewhip barrage from Bo, Biz's crackling electric current went entirely undetectable.

Everytime Biz was knocked over, the current sizzling under the ice melted more and more of the rink until a small pool had formed beneath the snowrunt and blizzboar's feet. On the eighth topple, Biz's electricity stormed through the under-ice stream, erupting into an ultra-powered spark that frazzled Isis's pokemon. Both were knocked out, leaving Turquoise the proud victor. From the bleachers, Citrine clapped excitedly while Eve ran in circles, joyfully chasing her tail, and Zen howled in delight.

After both gym leader and challenger had removed their skates, and Citrine had descended to the rink, Isis presented her Snowdrift badge to the ecstatic Turquoise. "Congratulations!" she announced in her awesome announcer's voice as Turquoise and Citrine exited the gym and entered the cold mountaintop air.

As for Jasper, he was already halfway to Mossbeach when the strangest scene caught his attention. A woman wearing some funky, ancient-looking parka was beating up an older fellow by ordering her wolventaur to bite the poor soul.

"Hey!" Jasper hollered from his place on the path, "Stop beating up that guy!" He ran over to make sure she'd stop, but the lady paid him no mind and continued threatening the old man.

When Jasper got close enough, he recognized the elderly man as the famous archeologist, Mr. Rooncor. Again, he demanded that the strangely-dressed lady stop attacking. "Fine," he muttered to himself when the lady still didn't recognize his presence, "I'll just have to fight you."

Both of Jasper's pokemon jumped out of their pokeballs to face the foe, itching to battle. They'd both gotten much stronger after training with Turquoise and the more reluctant Citrine, and wanted to test their prowess against a new opponent. Of course, after Jasper had taken the first move, the strangely dressed woman smirked and waggled a finger, clicking her tongue.

"Bad boy," she chided, before landing a vicious crunch attack on Tsunami, making her flinch. Her wolventaur glared evilly at Jasper and his pokemon, sending chills through their spines. Even Cardinal, who didn't have a spine, was inclined to back away.

The wolventaur opened its mouth to gather energy, forming a giant ball of the stuff before releasing a serious hyper beam. Both Tsunami and Cardinal suffered huge amounts of damage, and Jasper was beginning to think he hadn't trained diligently enough.

Teeth clenched, Jasper ran towards the old man after ordering his pokemon to focus on dodging. He heaved the man over one shoulder and made his way back to one end of the battlefield, but not before noticing the strange marking shaved into the wolventaur's fur. Jasper knew that marking, it was the symbol on one of the buttons back during the ratleaf incident. This strange lady must've been part of that Team Infinity.

"Hey freak lady!" he taunted, "I've got this old man! Now you and your Team Infinity can't get anything out of him!"

The mere mention of Team Infinity made the lady cease her fire. She flicked her vision towards Jasper just long enough for Cardinal to land a hard low kick on the dark-type wolventaur. Jasper recalled his pokemon while the wolventaur was stunned on the ground and scrammed, almost wishing he hadn't started the fight in the first place; his teammates weren't exactly in good condition anymore.

Ahead of Jasper was Jade, who had been pretty much kidnapped by a strange man with sunglasses and forced to stay with him while the pokemon recovered. In return, the man wanted to beatify them. How strange. But since there wasn't a pokemon center in sight, Jade felt obliged to his flarezle to let him recover. Not that flarezle was particularly happy about getting dressed up.

Of course, when Jade finally decided that flarezle was well enough to continue, he bid the man goodbye and set out once more.

"Be sure to visit the main branch of the pokemon fan club if you're ever in Shockstone City!" the short, fedora-wearing man cried as Jade left.

Of course, the town didn't seem to want Jade to leave quite yet, as who should he meet on his way out but Jasper? To add to that, the light-haired boy looked worn-out and carried a beaten old fellow on his back. Jade didn't know what hardship his friend had gone through, but he pulled the boy over before departing and directed him to the pokemon fanclub director's vacation house, mentioning that there wasn't a center in town.

Jasper watched Jade leave, wondering what sort of thing the other boy had done that required an actual stay somewhere and not just a brief stop.

**Afterword: I know this one was kind of short. Bear with me please. I still suck at writing battle scenes, so if you know any really good ones I can examine for tips, that would be awesome! Rate and Review please!**

**Ciao!**


	8. Infinity Again

**Part 8:**

_ A girl gifted with boundless courage was born ten years ago. Her loyalty knew no bounds, and her friends loved her for it, despite the many flaws the girl had. Her selfless actions gained her the trust of prominent fellows, and now she travels about, journeying with new friends. Little does she know that her life is endangered and her loyalty may cause her death._

Citrine had stepped in one too many bottomless pools during her time in the mountain pass. She wished she'd caught a volbeat or illumise during her time on route 803, for the light would've helped immensely.

Hoping to get back to Tawneyfield without the others and visit Faytown while no one could stop her or wish to join her, she had chosen to leave Turquoise. Besides, Citrine thought herself far weaker than the others, and no doubt would only be a burden to the fast-paced, courageous girl.

Carefully, she lowered a foot onto something that was definitely hard, only to have it move under her feet, throwing her off balance. Neither of the pokemon were out of their pokeballs for Citrine was very afraid of losing them in the dark.

A hard, rugged object hit Citrine while she was still on the ground, making her 'oof', and start panicking. Scrambling to her feet, she was hit again, and again, but the girl made sure she was traveling eastward. Or was she going south now? She didn't know. That was bad. Really, really bad.

The thing hit her again, hard on the head, leaving the girl unconscious on the ground.

In Mossbeach, Jasper was busy knocking on the door of the pokemon fan club director's house, just as Jade had suggested. It was true that not a single pokemon center or supply shop was in town, and Jasper desperately needed help, not for himself, but for Mr. Rooncor. Both pokemon had suffered less damage than Jasper had originally thought, and didn't need any special treatment aside from plenty of rest.

After a few taps on the door of the house, it opened to reveal a short mustachioed man with black sunglasses and a black suit. Admittedly, he looked comic.

"Another one!" he cried, "I can't believe you battle fanatics! Always needing to use my house to rest up! Blast it all! Come in, come in! And let me take a look at those fine pokemon you have in those pokeballs!"

Jasper felt himself being shoved in though the first few phrases had denoted battling as an awful sport that he'd obviously participated in. Without any regard for the unconscious man on Jasper's back, the director demanded loudly to see his pokemon.

"But sir," Jasper started.

"No buts!" the director interrupted, "You will show me the pokemon!"

"Sir, I"-

"Show them to me!"

Trying hard not to roll his eyes, Jasper brought out Tsunami and Cardinal to please the director. "Now Sir," he began, "This man is injured and…"

Of course, the director didn't pay any attention. He was too busy messing with Jasper's pokemon to even care about a famous archeologist who'd been attacked in the mountains. And naturally, this irked the very diligent, always alert Jasper.

"Sir!" he yelled, finally catching the director's attention, "I have brought an injured man!"

"Oh my," the little man said, looking suspiciously at Jasper, "You wouldn't happen to have done this, would you? Battle maniac?"

"For the love of"- Jasper stopped himself before spouting rants. He could do that to his sister, but not to a total stranger whose help he was in need of. "Of course not, Sir. I found him being beaten up by a strange lady in the mountains."

Still suspicious, the old man tried to slap Mr. Rooncor to ask _his_ story, but Jasper stopped the not-very-sharp man. "Don't hit an injured person," he scolded.

"Fine," the director replied, giving a little _hmph_, "I will care for this man. But only if you catch a cute pokemon that I can cuddle! Your tsuguppy and saintmanti aren't cute at all!"

Since Mr. Rooncor really did need help, Jasper agreed to the terms and left to find a cute pokemon along route 805. Of course, he also felt a little hurt when the fan club director complained about his pokemons' appearances. Sure, Tsunami looked like a bulgy-eyed fish-out-of-water, and Cardinal was more than a bit intimidating, but that didn't warrant the blatant insulting of his precious teammates.

Turquoise on the other hand, had just entered route 804 when she spotted a woman with an ancient-looking parka. In fact, that woman looked like she'd have been right at home in the mountains, albeit five thousand years ago, and only if ancient people had light green hair. But if the lady had just been strange-looking, Turquoise wouldn't have cared. In fact, it was the funny infinity symbol on the woman's back that sparked Turquoise's interest.

Running in the snow, she called out to the lady. "Hey! Can I ask you a question about that symbol on your back?"

Turquoise was fairly sure the lady cursed under her breath before drawing out a wolventaur with the same infinity sign shaved into its fur. The wolventaur jumped at Turquoise, who dodged easily and brought out Biz to fight back.

"Spark!" Turquoise commanded as the silicat took form.

A huge spray of crackling electricity showered the wolventaur, lighting up its black fur and hissing when it hit the snow.

"Lick!" the lady shouted, still trying to run away. Luckily her parka made running something of a chore, and Turquoise caught her in a heartbeat.

"Gotcha!" she cried, sounding very proud of herself. She looked back at the battle and shouted for Biz to use tackle.

From her position pinned to the ground, the lady coughed out a "dark pulse", and the wolventaur dutifully carried out its master's wishes. A ball of dark energy shot from its mouth, hitting Biz at point-blank range. Turquoise tensed at the hit, hoping Biz hadn't been knocked out because bringing Bo into the cold was never a good idea. When she looked down, the pinned lady had a pleased smirk plastered on her face.

"Take that, stupid girl," the lady taunted, before gasping at the bright light emanating from the battlefield.

Turning to see what was so gasp-worthy, Turquoise too gawked at the bright light from Biz's body. "Is that a move?" she asked the strange lady, still gaping at the scene.

"No, you loser girl," the lady snapped, sounding like a cliché popular girl, "Your dumb silicat is evolving!"

"Oh."

Eventually, the light faded, revealing the figure of a grey and yellow tiger with wicked fangs standing proudly on all fours. Biz had evolved from silicat to cybertooth.

From her position still atop the strange lady, she whooped in delight. But the lady seemed worried and called her wolventaur back before magically replacing herself with a log for Turquoise to sit on.

"How in the world?" the girl muttered to herself as the saber-tooth tiger pokemon nudged her lightly. It would seem that there were even more mysteries behind the mysterious Team Infinity.

**Afterword: Urg, I still can't write battles... Please rate and review! Oh, and if anyone has cool ideas for random pokemon, I would love to hear them! (Don't worry, I will definitely credit you, and include the name 'cause that's the hardest part.)**

**Ciao!**


	9. The Director's Request

**Part 9:**

_In a distant future, the man still lived on. He'd gained the immortality he'd wanted for so long, and the world was his to rule. But only one problem remained: a boy with so much patience, he was almost immortal in his own way. The man swore to kill the boy, but before he found an opening, the boy disappeared, leaving behind a future he could have waited an eternity for._

Citrine awoke to the breath-taking view of Mount Eternity's cloud-shrouded peak. Still groggy, she gaped at the sight all the while not realizing that she wasn't in the mountain pass anymore. But then it struck her as odd that she could see the peak of Mount Eternity from a place anywhere Faytown.

The usual panic set in as she fumbled to open Eve and Zen's pokeballs so she might have the company of someone familiar. It seemed she was forever waking up in other people's houses, first in the twin's home, and now here.

The door creaked open, causing Citrine to almost shriek before realizing it was just a little girl. She looked hardly six, and had short red hair tied in one ponytail on the left side of her head. After a short, quizzical glance, the girl turned back to the hall behind her and shouted, "Ma! She's up!"

From somewhere else, the muffled voice of the girl's mother replied to bring Citrine down for lunch.

"Ma says to come down for lunch," the little girl relayed, even though Citrine had heard the message directly. But instead of rushing downstairs for Citrine to follow, the little red-headed girl cautiously walked forward to the older girl. "So, what's your name?" she asked.

Smiling as cheerfully as she could after waking somewhere new, Citrine told the girl her name.

"That's a cool name," the red-head said, her green eyes wide. She stuck out a hand and said, "My name's Yvette."

Due in part to Jasper and Turquoise's assistance, Citrine knew that this called for her to shake the smaller girl's hand. Slowly, she reached out, unsure of exactly how a handshake worked. After all, Turquoise's example had involved rigorous shaking, while Jasper's was a little awkward and unsure. But Yvette knew what she was doing and took Citrine's hand firmly to shake it.

"Pa says you can always tell what kind of person you meet by shaking their hand," she said, beaming proudly. Obviously the girl was very attached to her dad.

Citrine nodded, not knowing what to say next. But thankfully she didn't have to, because Yvette was quick to suggest that they head down for some food. "Ma's a really good cook," Yvette bragged, marching down the long hallway with Citrine and her pokemon in tow. Citrine paid the girl only half of her attention and instead devoted the rest to taking in her surroundings. She was rather impressed by how large this particular house was, but didn't want to ask about it in case she said something insulting. There were numbers by each of the doors that opened into the hall, and people walked through like they owned the place.

"Is everyone here in your family?" she finally asked the younger girl.

"Huh? No way!" was Yvette's response, "We own a hot springs hotel that people come visit. There's no way they could all be related to me."

Vaguely, Citrine recalled Jasper mentioning something along the lines of inns where people on travel stayed temporarily. It was a foreign concept to a girl who, back in her time, would have set up camp every night rather than staying on someone else's property.

It didn't matter though, and the lunch Yvette's family served was scrumptious. Something about the spices tasted very foreign, nothing at all like what she'd had before arriving in this new time.

"Thank you all so much," Citrine said, bowing as she made her way to leave, "I wish there was something I could do to repay you for your kindness, but that might have to wait since I have nothing to give."

The older woman who was clearly Yvette's ma waved a hand and chuckled, saying that there wasn't any need for such a polite young lady to concern herself over favors.

Bowing again, Citrine turned away from the hot springs, vowing to come again and actually try the springs if she couldn't get back to her time. With the giant peak of Mount Eternity splayed behind and her pokemon friends at her side, she set off on route 806 towards Hazecourt City.

Almost as soon as Jade was out of Mossbeach, a sprinting Jasper caught up to him, muttering angrily about catching a cute pokemon. The lighter-haired boy turned to Jade and asked, "Did the fan club director send you out to show him a cute pokemon too?"

Nodding, Jade smiled reluctantly. "I wonder how the girls are doing," he said, knowing that any mention of the insults the fan club director had said about their pokemon wouldn't go well.

"I imagine my sister is still on route 804, and Citrine's probably with her," Jasper told the other boy, smiling confidently. "I just hope they remembering to train."

"Of course," Jade said, in full agreement with the other boy. They kept walking, silent because there wasn't much to say. But it wasn't long before a small eevee stumbled onto the path, completely exhausted and obviously hurt. Its condition was something to fret over, and Jade had no idea what to do.

"Why don't you catch it and bring it to the director?" the light-haired boy suggested, sounding calm despite the circumstances.

"I can't ask the fan club director to care for another sick pokemon," Jade replied, sounding shocked, "I'd rather go straight to Hazecourt City and heal the eevee there before going back to show it to the crazy fan club director."

"Okay, okay," Jasper conceded. Apparently his sister wasn't the only strong-willed trainer he knew. "Just catch the eevee and let's get on to Hazecourt."

Jade lightly tapped the fainted eevee with a pokeball before glancing out at the sea beside route 805. "Why don't you let your tsuguppy out?" he asked, "I bet it would like the ocean."

Flustered that he'd forgotten about Tsunami, Jasper fumbled with the pokeball and let the little fish pokemon swim through the waves, looking much happier and alert than it had on land. And it was in this manner, with Jasper and Jade exchanging conversation over pokemon, training tactics, and the girls they had traveled with shortly, that the two boys reached Hazecourt city two days later without meeting another suitable pokemon for the fan club's attention.

And then there was Turquoise, who was trudging towards Mossbeach town, ready to drop on the ground and sleep. She was not happy at all after trudging through the snow, battling furious wild pokemon, and getting lost on a beach only to stumble on some creepy cave that definitely wasn't on route 804.

And Turquoise was definitely not in the mood for the idiotic fan club director. Still tired, she was pushed across town by the short little man and shoved into a room where the famous Mr. Rooncor was already beginning to stir.

This sight woke her slightly, and shocked, she demanded to know why some famous archeologist was resting, hurt, in the fan club director's house.

"Oh, some battle fanatic with two very un-cute pokemon came this way and needed to drop the man. I still can't believe that boy was carrying around a tsuguppy and a saintmanti and not a single cute pokemon in the mix."

"You didn't tell the guy you thought his pokemon weren't cute, did you?" Turquoise asked, knowing exactly which boy the little man spoke so lowly of.

"Of course I told him!" the grey-haired man shouted, nearly waking up Mr. Rooncor. He raised a fist and looked up, catching a glance at the Snowflake Badge pinned to Turquoise's bolero. "Ahh! You're one of those battle maniacs too! Get out! Get out!" the man said, pushing poor Turquoise out the door to find somewhere else to stay the night.

**Afterword: I'm working on another pokemon fic right now that's loosely based on Explorers of sky, so be patient! That should help improve on my battle scenes...**

**Ciao! R & R please!**


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